Lost in the Woods

[jamesoftaversal]

Who: Sir James, Robin, and a brat (closed)
What: A poor little lamb has gone astray, and needs some help
When: June 12
Where: Sherwood Forest

Comments

[robin_hood49]

Robin was just on his way to take up a post along the road when he heard raised voices. Altering his steps to be silent, he crept up the rise that overlooked the area. Before he had even reached the top, he identified one of the voices as belonging to Sir James; the other was unfamiliar, but seemed to be that of a child.

Indeed, it was, and Robin recognized the boy even though he could not immediately recall his name. Unless he was mistaken, he had seen the child around Wadlow. That was quite a distance from here; either the boy's father had an odd manner of collecting firewood, or...

Or, he would be having a serious discussion with Robin later today.

Standing, Robin walked normally to the top of the rise, deliberately not masking his presence. As he descended the other side toward the road, he called, "Good morning, gentlemen!" Catching them up, he gave the lad a quick, assessing look. He did not seem much the worse for wear, fortunately. With a nod and a murmured greeting to Sir James, Robin asked, "Whom do we have, here

[jamesoftaversal]

Sir James returned Robin’s greeting with a nod. He curbed his urge to mouth off at the outlaw; after all, Robin had kept to the bargain they made last fall in Sir James’ barn, and besides, he was on Robin’s turf this time and he needed to be wary.

“What we have here is a young scofflaw who thinks it amusing to waylay innocent travelers as they go down the king’s highway. I can’t imagine where he got that idea,” Sir James added, dryly. (He couldn’t resist.) “I haven’t had a chance yet to learn his name, but he claims to be Robin Hood.” Sir James arched an eyebrow at Robin in amusement. “If he is Robin Hood, then he’s not as good at this outlaw stuff as he’s reputed to be since he seems to have gotten himself lost. Home,” he continued, with a bit of irony in his voice, “Is apparently thataway. As, theoretically, is his father. We were about to go in search of whichever we came across first-the home or the father-when you found us. What do you think? Any clues to share to make our quest easier?”

[robin_hood49]

Robin shot Sir James an overly bright grin at the jibe regarding his probably influence on the boy. As his explanation continued, Robin turned his gaze to the lad, who was glaring at him like a drenched cat. Behind that ire, however, Robin thought he detected worry in his eyes, and no wonder

[jamesoftaversal]

Sir James had to press his lips tightly together to keep from laughing out loud and ruining the effect, but at least he could play along. “What about Runcible? He looks like a Runcible to me!” But the boy wasn’t getting into the spirit of the thing; in fact, he looked to Sir James like he was about to cry. Sir James couldn’t draw a bead on how old the boy was, but he looked young enough for tears to be a reasonable reaction to his situation. Sir James’ ire was spent-he figured the shaking he had given the lad was proportionate to the start he had himself received, and all was forgiven. So he tried a different tactic

[robin_hood49]

The grin Robin turned toward Sir James at the knight's contribution quickly fell away as the boy's expression went from petulant to the verge of tears. He felt guilty at that; his intention had been to lighten the lad's mood, distract him from his suspicions, not to mock him.

Sir James's reassurances seemed to help-- although Robin did raise an eyebrow at him for saying there were worse than him in Sherwood-- and something in Robin's mind clicked at the names. He did not know the family well, but he knew who they were. If he was not mistaken, they had a few small children; Wat must be one of the eldest, even at his age. That knowledge, combined with Wat's story, brought a frown to his face as he met Sir James's look

[jamesoftaversal]

Sir James didn’t know that he liked being made the object of fun and/or pity for a peasant boy, even in a good cause, though he indeed did not know the way to Wadlow. Neither did he know the proper greeting to give a man in Robin’s unique position. So he settled for a nod when they met in the spot Robin had indicated and jumped right to the point, trying to keep his voice low enough for Wat not to hear

[robin_hood49]

Robin nodded, listening intently as Sir James spoke even as he kept an eye on Wat. "I agree, that seems to be the case." So far, he had not come across anything as gruesome as Sir James described; perhaps that had just been luck, although he found himself hoping that he and the gang had made it so that most families that might have considered such action put in a position where they did not have to worry so much.

Perhaps, it was a naive hope, but it was still there.

At the implied question, he turned his gaze on the knight. "I will ensure that it is the right decision." His eyes bespoke the conversation he intended to have with the boy's father. Children would not be abandoned to the forest, not on his watch.

[jamesoftaversal]

“Oh, you will, will you?” Sir James arched an eyebrow. Robin made it sound like he was still a lord, and Wadlow one of his manors. Oh, well. There were some things Sir James didn’t want to know, and besides, as he himself said, he didn’t have a better idea of what to do with Wat. He wasn’t inclined to take him in himself. The arrangement he had made with Sir Nicolas to take in Clun’s orphaned and poor children had worked out well for both of them, and even if he could think of a family that had room for Wat, he felt a certain loyalty to the agreement that precluded him gathering in strays from other places.

“Then let’s do it. How far are we talking about, anyway? Because unless you’ve got some horses stashed away near here that we can use, it appears we’ve got my one for the three of us, and she’s not that strong. If it’s someplace nearby, Wat can walk, but if we’ve got to cover some distance, it may be more efficient for him to ride and us to walk, since his legs are so much shorter than ours

[robin_hood49]

Robin returned the raised eyebrow. "Yes, I will." Not all peasants of Nottinghamshire supported Robin and his gang, but none were likely to go against them unless coerced by threat or substantial payout. He could see no reason for either to come into play here. Still, he intended to ask a few trusted residents of Wadlow to keep an eye on the situation. If it came down to it, there was the orphanage not far from Locksley to which he could take Wat; however, he would much rather try to sort things out with the family, first

[jamesoftaversal]

“Several hours? Blimey, his father really didn’t want Wat to show back up on his doorstep, did he?” Sir James’ eyes followed Robin’s glance. Wadlow seemed to lay at an angle to the way to Teversal, and he knew the angle would only grow larger the further they went. He’d be lucky if he got home before dark set in, and that was if they traveled “at a steady pace,” something they’d be hard pressed to do with a child in tow, two of them on foot and one on horseback, and no road or even path in sight. “I had hoped to be back to help with the haying today,” he said. Sir James was tempted to leave the boy in Robin’s care and be on his way, but he couldn’t do it. He trusted Robin more than he once did, but it still didn’t seem right to leave a child in the hands of an outlaw, no matter who the outlaw was. He sighed. “Well, if Teversal got hit by the same rain that hit us in Nottingham last night, they won’t be cutting hay, anyway. And its not like I made any promises. It’s just…you know how it is with haying and harvesting-all hands on deck,

[robin_hood49]

"I'd guess it will take us a bit under three hours." Robin gave Sir James a grim look when the knight pointed out how far the boy had been brought. Of course, on an excursion with his father, it must have seemed like less time had passed to get here; and if they had gone cross-country, that would have shaved some time off. Also, it was possible that Wat had wandered further on his own after being lost. Regardless, they now had a trek on their hands-- one with which Robin was so familiar that it did not strike him as being that very long, but with the others unused to it, the time would likely crawl for them.

The mention of haying and knowing how it went had his gaze leaving Sir James and going back toward Wat. He did know, and he missed it. All of it. He was meant to be seeing to those very sorts of activities in Locksley, had been raised for it

[jamesoftaversal]

Sir James gave a careless shrug. He had assumed Robin would share what food he had when they stopped, and the loss of his travel rations was so small an issue that it hadn’t even crossed his mind. It must be a mark of how hard up Robin was now that he made a mental accounting of such things

[robin_hood49]

Robin nodded when Sir James suggested letting Wat ride first; while the boy clearly had energy, he had been through a long night, and there would be plenty of time for him to run along the way. Wat's reaction to the food was not what Robin would have expected, and his eyebrows went up as Sir James replied. His surprise turned to wry amusement with the knight's aside about his rations. Considering Robin could not remember the last time he ate perch and had always been fond of plums, it sounded fine to him

[jamesoftaversal]

Sir James would be the first to admit he knew next to nothing about rearing children, but he did know it was imperative for the adults in a child’s life to keep a united front. So he tried not to laugh when Wat said Robin was too short to be the vaunted outlaw Hood-truly, he did!-but he couldn’t help himself. A guffaw burst out despite his best attentions; at least he turned his head away from Robin to minimize the effect.

“I know what you mean, Wat,” he eventually said. “A man’s heroes never live up to his expectations when he meets them in the flesh. But that’s the way it goes. And this really is Robin Hood, I swear it! He tried to rob me once, yet I lived to tell the tale. Think about it: you really must be in a pickle if the two of us are joining forces to help you out! And he’s right-all we want to do is get you home as quickly as possible." Wat appeared to be softening, but still looked dubious, so Sir James leaned in and said confidentially, “Think of the bragging rights you’ll have with your mates when you see them

[robin_hood49]

Sir James's amusement at Wat's reply increased Robin's own, and he nodded to Wat as Sir James explained how they had come to be acquainted, throwing in a conspiratorial wink at the mention of bragging rights due to meeting him. He decided to let the knight handle the issue of his horse, being that it was his horse, feeling that Sir James had the right of it in not letting Wat guide the animal

[jamesoftaversal]

“Looks like we’ve got a little Allan a Dale on our hands,” Sir James said to Robin, jerking his head back to indicate Wat. Too late, he remembered Allan was a sore subject with Robin. Well, screw it, he thought. Wat was acting a lot like Allan a Dale at the moment, and he didn’t see any need to tiptoe around the outlaw’s delicate sensibilities with such an innocent observation